


Charity’s Angel

by chlolou1208



Category: Emmerdale, vanity - Fandom
Genre: Charity&Johnny, F/F, Family, Johnnybobs, Vanity, rhonessa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:42:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23883211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chlolou1208/pseuds/chlolou1208
Summary: Charity and Johnny’s bond from Rhona’s side, still in third person. 3 times where Charity was Johnnys mum and maybe no one even realised it? Except Johnny of course who loves his mummy Charity. Set during the gap between Vanessa asking rhona to...have Johnny.
Relationships: Charity Dingle/Vanessa Woodfield
Comments: 9
Kudos: 107





	Charity’s Angel

She watches Vanessa blow cool air on her cup of tea, noticing how her hand shakes and her eyebrows frown as she leans forward to rest the steaming mug on a coaster on the coffee table. She notices how her skin’s pale and how she seems to shiver, despite the heating being on full wack thanks to Charity and the layers of blankets over her. She averts her eyes quickly as Vanessa sits back into the sofa, glancing over at her and flashing a small smile before going back to watching the television. Rhona has been informed of her latest obsession with quiz shows, especially ‘tipping point’ according to her small blonde. Her mind wanders to the little boy upstairs with Charity, she can hear occasional splashes of water followed by laughing so she assumes Charity’s bathing him. She thinks about taking on the responsibility of another child if the worst was to happen to her best friend, she prayed it didn’t obviously but life has taught her to never be certain of what’s coming around the corner. Johnny would love it with Leo, she thinks, and Leo would be excited over another young boy in the house. She’s been around Johnny many times, he’s quiet and never any trouble, unless he’s getting into mischief with his brother Moses, she remembers when the two of them had gotten their hands on a can of whipped cream when she’d been babysitting them once a few weeks after Vanessa was stabbed and they’d had to go and get her stitches taken out. She smiles and takes another sip of her coffee to hide a giggle at her friend shouting out wrong answers to ‘tipping point’.

“Alright if I pop to toilet Ness?” 

“Course go on up!” Vanessa says, her eyes fixed still on the screen. 

Rhona heads on upstairs after putting her mug down next to Vanessa’s, she rounds the corner and realises she has no clue where the bathroom is. Since they’ve moved to Jacobs Fold her visits have been far and few between, before the cancer and…Pierce, Vanessa had always been at the pub anyway so there hadn’t been need to meet up at the blonde’s home. 

  
“Cha-tyy!!” 

She smiles as she hears Johnny shout and then burst out into a fit of giggles. She walks closer towards his laughter and watches her friends fiancé and Johnny interact through the crack in the door that’s slightly open. Charity’s kneeled on the floor with her hands in the bath water, she squints and covers her mouth to hide a laugh when she sees Charity’s face, she’s got a moustache and beard made out of bubbles and she’s doing some sort of deep man voice. 

“So…Sir Johnny, what shampoo would you like, we’ve got…” Charity does some weird hand motion that makes it look as if she’s magically making the shampoo bottles come to hand and Johnny is transfixed, his big eyes looking up at her as if she hung the stars and lit up the moon. 

“Boring old Vanilla…” Charity grabs the other bottle with a blue liquid inside. “Or…ooo look at that-raspberry and bubblegum” she takes the top off and makes a show about smelling the shampoo, grinning when it smells to her taste. 

Johnny points to the blue one, “that one!” And then drops his hands back into the water with a splash. 

She watches as Charity instructs Johnny to close his eyes, which he does straight away, a smile still plastered across his little face. Charity squirts a dollop of shampoo onto her hand and lathers it a little before rubbing it in Johnny’s hair, she notices how gentle she is and feels a certain tenderness in her chest as while she’s washing his hair she presses kisses to Johnny’s face making him laugh even more.   
  
...“Bit creepy that Rhona not gonna lie” 

She feels her jaw drop, startled at having been caught snooping on the pair. She smiles awkwardly as she pushes the bathroom door, hearing a freak as she does. She steps inside and waves to Johnny who’s now rinsing his hair with a little jug in the bath. She takes a seat on the toilet lid and takes a breath. 

“Sorry” she shrugs. “Just wondered how much longer you were gonna be only, I need to pee so…” 

Charity’s nose scrunches up, she stands to dry her hands on a yellow ( _definitely Vanessa’s choice_ , Rhona figures) towel and chucks it back on the white cabinet that’s next to the bath tub. “Alright alright TMI” Charity says with a smirk on her face. “We won’t be much longer anyways, been in here half an hour already cos he wouldn’t stop playing with his Lego pirate ship” Charity scoffs a laugh and kicks her foot around, almost _shyly_? 

Despite her best friend been smitten with Charity for well over two years now, she finds herself a stranger to the taller blonde. They’ve never really talked she realises, there’d been a while after the proposal and Vanessa’s stabbing that the two had exchanged texts, Charity would ask Rhona to bring over magazines and all the chocolate truffles she could find in David’s shop, while rhona would ask for updates on Vanessa’s injury. She used to warn Vanessa off Charity, _she’s trouble_ , she remembers saying. Right now though, she finds herself warmed by Charity, she respects her as a mother and a fiancé and maybe one day a friend, she wonders why the landlady has few of those sometimes. 

Rhona smiles and clasps her hands. “No problem, I can hold it” 

Charity nods and starts to get a towel for the younger boy. She checks to make sure the shampoo and soap are all rinsed off and then unplugs the bath, the water draining slowly as she starts to dry Johnny with the large towel she’d wrapped round his shoulders. 

“Come on Johnnybobs, go get dry in your room an I’ll come help with your pj’s in a sec yeah?” Charity lifts him out of the bath and he scurried off, giving a small wave to Rhona which she returns with a fond smile on her face. Charity opens the bathroom window to let air back inside the steamy room and goes to head out of the door, “leave you to it then-“

“Charity” Rhona stands and grabs a hold of her elbow as the taller woman passes her. 

“Your so good with him” She says giving a genuine smile. 

Charity smiles back, it doesn’t quite meet her eyes like it did with Johnny before but she appreciates her trying anyway. 

“Just wish my fiancé thought so ey?” Charity says, her eyes upset and her face distraught. 

**********

  
“Ready…”

Rhona plasters on a huge smile and gaps as she pushes Leo on the roundabout, pushing it faster when Leo screams excitedly for her to go faster. 

“Careful, might spin the poor lad back in time” 

She hears that from behind her, smiling as she sees charity and Vanessa walking towards her. Charity’s arm is supporting Vanessa’s weight as the smaller blonde has her arm hooked into Charity’s, her legs look like jelly as they walk on over to her and Leo. 

“Hi” she says to the three of them, noticing Johnny and Moses trailing behind them engrossed in some…bug?...that Moses has found. Moses flicks it and Johnny runs away screaming, Moses chases after him and the two end up near the swings, running in circles around the poles after each other. 

“Hey” Vanessa says, Charity nods her hello and waves at Leo, who’s screaming to be pushed again. Rhona walks backwards and gives another strong push. 

“How you doing?” Rhona asks. 

“Fine yeah, just wanted fresh air to be honest, feel like I’ve been couped up for years not days” Vanessa says with a large sigh. She takes a deep breath and looks relieved as the cold, fresh air enters her nostrils and into her lungs, like a pump of air into a flat tyre. 

“Could have come sat in the bar with me babe but you declined” Charity pipes up from beside her, shrugging after her sentence while Vanessa rolls her eyes. 

“I told ya…the smell of alcohol is making me sick for some reason lately” Vanessa scrunches her nose up. A shiver racks through her body as another gust of wind blows through the village and Charity wraps an arm round her shoulders while rubbing her hands up and down on them to try and warm her up. 

“Probably flashbacks babe from your last _bender_ ” Charity sniggers as Vanessa and rhona avert their eyes. She goes to nudge rhona lightly with her elbow, “still not forgiven you for that by the way” she smiles and shouts something as she sees Moses banging on the poles that hold up the swings. Vanessa rolls her eyes with a fond smile as Charity marches on over to the two little ones, bending down and listening to the two of them as they ask her something. Whatever they asks she agrees, she nods her head and slaps her thighs as she lets her arms fall to the side. Rhona watches as she reluctantly helps them both into the swings and starts to push them, taking turns as to which boy she pushes. 

“Duty calls” Rhona jokes as Vanessa walks closer to her. 

“Speaking of…think Leo wants another push” Vanessa smiles as Rhona sighs and heads on back to give Leo another push, telling him that this would be the last one before they headed home.

“So how’s life at the farm? You and Moira having fun working together?” Vanessa asks. 

“It’s good yeah, something different which I’m definitely welcoming after…everything with Graham” She says and Vanessa nods understandingly. 

“You and Charity good yeah?” She sees Vanessa nod. “Talked any more about Johnny?” Rhona braves the question, hoping her friend wouldn’t storm off home or go throw another pint over another student, she grimaces at remembering the video Charity had shown her multiple times after that day. 

Vanessa shakes her head and heads quickly over to sit on the bench nearby. Rhona sighs and decides not to push her friend even more on the subject… _yet_. She pushes Leo one last time and heads over to sit beside Vanessa, she starts making conversation about how the vets is doing and how the the older kids are doing. 

While Vanessa tells her about Sarah trying to convince her to make a tock, no… _tiktok_ account, she watches her son run over to where Charity, Moses and Johnny are playing on the swings. She’s about to stand up and get him to sit with them when Charity surprisingly crouches down to her son, says something to him which seems to make him run over to the slide and climbing frame, Moses and Johnny are helped off the swings by charity and they soon head on over to leo. Charity makes the three boys take it in turns going down the slide, her head tilts to the side as Charity helps her son up onto his feet whenever he reaches the bottom of the slide. 

  
“My turn my turn!” Johnny claps his hands together. 

“Come on then Johnny, let’s see how fast you can slide…” Charity stands at the side of the slide and pushes his back when he sits down which makes him go a little faster. 

His little ‘weee’ as he slides makes Rhona smile and she can see Vanessa doing the same beside her. She looks at the other woman as she stares at Charity and the boys, see’s her giggling as Moses does a little dance on top of the slide and hears her breath hitch whenever Charity makes Johnny laugh. 

“Might have found another baby sitter for Leo” Rhona remarks and glances at Vanessa who smiles in response. 

“Hahah, yeah…though it might not be Leo Charity returns to you, it’ll probably be a lion or a bee or a _lady bird_ ” Vanessa laughs at the memory and Rhona smirks knowingly. 

Rhona stretches her arms out in front of her with her fingers interlocked and stands up shortly after. “Right, me an Leo are heading over to Paddy and Chas’ for lunch…” 

“Sounds lovely” Vanessa says standing up as well and following Rhona over to the kids. She puts her hands in her pockets and fastens her coat up a little more, her cheeks are rosy red and her nose is as cold as ice. She smiles though as she approaches charity and the boys. 

“You enjoyed playing with Charity mister?” Rhona asks Leo as she approaches, holding a hand out to Leo who scurries over to hold it, fingers go in his mouth which Rhona knocks away gently. Leo nods and waves to Moses and Johnny, he smiles up at Charity and Vanessa and waves his hand at them too. 

“Say bye boys” Charity encourages. Moses and Johnny shout ‘bye’ a lot louder and enthusiastically than necessary but she grins and heads back over to help Moses down from the climbing frame that he’s somehow got stuck on. 

“Bye…”Rhona waves as she heads over to the pub, she takes a look back and gets a glimpse of Charity and Vanessa playing with the two boys on the park. She notices Johnnys tendency to want to be next to Charity most of the time, he’s always clinging at her leg or wanting to be lifted up. Moses however seems to gravitate towards Vanessa, she sees him chatting to her and reaching up to hold her hand more often than not. 

She smiles and makes her way in to the pub, praying that if there’s a god then he’ll ensure Vanessa is healthy by the end of her treatment and she hopes to god that the only ‘second mummy’ Johnny has in his life is the tall, gobby, warm-hearted landlady. 

*********

“Move!” 

Charity barges her way through the door, a crying Johnny in her arms, she pushes past where Tracy and Rhona are stood by the sofa. 

“Chill out, what on earth ya doing?” Tracy exclaims as she huffs, she looks at Johnny now though who’s crying his eyes out and who has a grace on his knee and a cut on his forehead above his left eyebrow. There’s blood pouring from the both of them and it makes her squirm a little. 

Charity rummages through the cupboard underneath he sink, Johnny sits on the counter tops and Rhona comes over to stand at his side. There’s bangs and clashes as Charity empties the cupboard, seemingly unable to find whatever she’s after. She’s grumbling as she does, Rhona can tell her teeth are gritted and if she were a cartoon character then there’d be steam coming out of a blood red face by now. 

“Finally!” Charity comes up to Johnny and drops the first aid kit beside him, Rhona definitely knows it’s Vanessa’s because it’s the size of a small suitcase. 

“What happened little man?” Tracy said, pouting her lips at him. 

“Fell” he says, sniffling. His eyes never leave Charity as she works like a nurse, cleaning the blood from his cheeks and his knee. 

Tracy tuts in sympathy and ruffles his hair playfully. 

Charity seems to be in a world of her own as she focuses intently on placing a plaster over the graze on Johnny’s knee, she’s picked out a Thomas the tank engine one just for him. The cut on his forehead seems to be a trickier wound to patch up, she sees Charity become more and more frustrated and she suddenly shifts and throws down the wipes covered with Johnny’s blood. 

“That’s it I’m taking him to the hospital” 

“What? Why-“

“Because Tracyyy, it won’t stop bleeding that’s why! I dunno what else to do I-“

That’s when Rhona sees Vanessa come down, dressed in a dressing gown after Rhona and Tracy had insisted she take a bath and take a nap for a few hours. It was Vanessa who’s invited them both over initially but she could barely keep her eyes open a few hours after they’d arrived. 

“What’s going on?” She frowns and her eyes widen when she sees her boy, face soaked in tears and blood trickling down his face. 

“I fell when I was playin’…” Johnny says, he’s stopped crying now at least and is fiddling with his plaster.   
  
“Charity’s insisting on takin’ him to the hospital but-“

Vanessa looks at Charity who’s got worry etched over her face, there’s blood on her white t shirt from Johnnys grazes and she’s practically got bandages hanging out of her backside. 

“Babe it won’t stop bleeding, I-I’ve tried but-“ Charity feels herself become overwhelmed and if she hadn’t stopped talking Rhona would have thought she’d have burst out crying. 

Vanessa shakes her head, placing a hand on Charity’s shoulder and squeezing lightly before tending to her son. 

“Charity it’s fine, look…” she holds a wipe on the cut and after waiting a little while and applying a little pressure the blood stops. She patches it up with butterfly stitches after cleaning it thoroughly.

“See? You just weren’t pressing down for long enough to stop the blood flow, he’s alright now” Vanessa reassures her, kissing her cheek before washing her hands and tidying up the first aid kit and counter. 

Rhona notices Charity take a pause to calm herself, her hands unravelling from the tense fists that had been at her sides. The anxiety slowly disappears from her face and she takes a deep breath to calm herself. 

Rhona takes Johnnys coat off now and folds it up before laying it on the kitchen chair. She unravels his trousers that had been rolled up over his graze, making sure to go carefully over the plaster. 

“Looks like you’re all patched up mister” Rhona says and smiles at him. She carries him to the sofa and Tracy busies herself with making tea for them all. 

  
“Thanks for patching him up…must have been a nurse in your past life” Vanessa says quietly to her, grinning cheekily as she kisses Charity on below her ear. Charity grins, “probably was yeah” she walks over to click the tv on for Johnny and puts the kids channel on for him. 

Rhona notices the distant look in Charity’s eyes that’s been there for weeks now when she’s around Vanessa, she can almost see the conflict in her eyes. A battle between loving Vanessa more than anything in the world and being completely frustrated at her fiancé for her actions over Johnny and the guardianship these past few weeks. She feels for Charity, she never ever thought she’d take Charity’s side over her best friends, but she finds herself every day understanding Charity more and more and believing that she was the best thing to happen to not only Vanessa but Johnny too. It’s not about taking sides though, she knows that, especially because of the fear Vanessa feels because of the cancer. Not to mention the weakness and vulnerability cursing through her chemo filled bones. It’s probably why Charity hadn’t completely blown up over this whole thing, and for that she holds Rhona’s upmost respect. 

  
Tracy slouches down in the sofa next to Johnny. “So little man, does the patient want anything? Ya Lego or some juice or…” 

Johnny seems to think about it before holding his hands out. “I want mummy” 

Vanessa’s round the sofa before Charity can look up at the request. 

Johnny shakes his head when Vanessa comes over to him, her arms ready to cuddle him. He stretches his arms out further in charity’s direction and when Charity doesn’t click on he hobbles over to her, jumping up and forcing her to catch him. Rhona sees the emotions cloud Vanessa’s eyes, confusion, realisation, regret, guilt…love. Charity squeezes the little boy tight and sits down on the chair with him. 

“Just wanted cuddles didn’t ya Johnnybobs” Charity smiles, almost proud of herself and smug that Johnny chose this moment, when Vanessa’s nearest and dearest are around to see it, to want to be near her, to _want_ her over Vanessa, similarly to how Moses wants hugs _only_ from Vanessa after he’s had a bad dream. 

Johnny nods and cuddles into her side, “and chocolate cake” he whispers. 

“And chocolate cake ey? Well, we’ll have to see what Brenda’s got at the café in a bit then won’t we” Charity laughs and tickles him for a minute before hugging him tight and letting Johnny have much needed rest after the accident earlier on. 

Rhona knows Vanessa hasn’t took her eyes off of them once, she also _knows_ that Vanessa knows that she made a mistake by asking herself to take care of Johnny after Charity’s supposed hesitation. She see’s Vanessa nod to herself before going to retrieve something from her head back in the corner of the room next to Sarah and Noah’s school bags. From the corner of her eye she see’s Vanessa take papers out of her back and rip them in half, and then into quarters. She watches as she shoves the papers into the bin and forces the lid on. 

Vanessa goes to sit on the arm of the chair and kisses her fiancés forehead, Charity blushes and Vanessa leans into her side and wraps an arm around her shoulders. 

Rhona’s certain that her signature on those papers won’t be needed after all. 


End file.
